Colts Must Comply With Rooney Rule Before Hiring Head Coach

NFL diversity committee chair Art Rooney II stressed that Indianapolis cannot automatically elevate interim coach Jeff Saturday.

Colts owner Jim Irsay’s affection for interim head coach Jeff Saturday is no secret.

While introducing Saturday on Nov. 8 after the firing of previous coach Frank Reich, Irsay told reporters the interim coach would be around for “eight games and hopefully more.” Saturday has piloted Indianapolis to one win in four games—most recently a 54-19 loss to the Cowboys—amid a firestorm of criticism about his hiring.

However, Steelers president and NFL workplace diversity committee chair Art Rooney II made clear on Wednesday that the Colts still will need to go through traditional hiring protocols if they want to retain Saturday after the season. That includes complying with the Rooney Rule, named for Art Rooney II’s late father, Dan, by interviewing at least two minority candidates.

“Once the season’s over, the position has to be declared vacant, and they have to comply with all the rules,” Rooney said at this week’s owners meetings in Irving, Texas. “So as much as Coach Saturday might be a candidate, they still have to go through all the procedures and requirements to fill the position that any other club would have.”

Irsay hired Saturday after Reich guided Indianapolis to a 3-5-1 start, reportedly over objections from within the Colts’ front office. Saturday, a five-time Pro Bowl center with Indianapolis from 1999-2011, was working at ESPN when he was hired. His only prior head coaching experience was with Hebron Christian Academy in Dacula, Ga., from 2017-20.

His hiring was slammed by numerous observers, most notably CBS’s Bill Cowher, who called Saturday’s elevation “a disgrace to the coaching profession.”

The Colts are currently 4-8-1, third in the AFC South and 2.5 games behind the first-place Titans.